1
A Comparative Study of Symbolic Words in Japanese and Korean
Jungho Shin
MASTER’S THESIS IN EAST ASIAN LINGUISTICS (EAL4090) (60 credits)
Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS) Faculty of Humanities
UNIVERSITY OF OSLO
Autumn 2012
2
A Comparative Study of Symbolic Words in Japanese and Korean
© Jungho Shin 2012
A Comparative Study of Symbolic words in Japanese and Korean Jungho Shin
http://www.duo.uio.no/
Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo
3
§ Abstract
The Japanese and Korean vocabularies include several thousand symbolic words and they are nearly the only native vocabulary not penetrated by Sino-Japanese or Sino-Korean.
Symbolic words (including onomatopoeia) are used very frequently in all levels of Japanese and Korean, from conversation to literary works of all genres. It is unusual for Indo-European languages to have symbolic words. In contrast to Indo-European languages, the usage of mimetic words is a much more distinctive feature than the usage of onomatopoeia in the Japanese and Korean language. Symbolic words are extensively utilized in both Japanese and Korean.
In this study, the comparison of symbolic words between Japanese and Korean in both synchronic and diachronic views shows that the two languages are closely related on the basis of word-formation and the origin of symbolic words. In this thesis, I comparatively analyze the symbolic words in word-form as a starting point to verify the kinship between the two languages. Additionally, studies of historical, phonological and etymological approaches in Japanese and Korean symbolic words are comparatively discussed. This study contributes to the understanding of the close relationship between the two languages.
4
§ Acknowledgement
In completing this work, I am indebted to many friends and colleagues at Oslo University. A special word of thanks is owed to my supervisor Professor Bjarke Frellesvig for all of his helpful advice and patience while writing this thesis. I would especially like to thank Naomi Yabe Magnussen for her invaluable help in securing many obscure books and to also thank Wrenn Yennie for all of her excellent help with English and proofreading.
I would also like to thank Professor Hong-bin Im - i Song, - Kim and my fellow students in my classes for their linguistic advice and lessons in linguistics during my study at Seoul National University in Seoul. I am also grateful to Christoph Harbsmeier for his lessons and linguistic advice during my study at the University of Oslo.
Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family for all of their help and support.
5
Contents
§ Abstract --- p. 3
§ Acknowledgement --- p. 4
1. Introduction --- p. 6 a. Research Question/ b. Review of Existing Studies/ c. The Concept of Symbolic Words d. Research Area/ e. Research Materials/ g. Disposition of the Thesis
2. The Universality of Symbolic Words --- p. 12 2.1. Examples of Symbolic words
2.1.1. English
2.1.2. Japanese / Korean
2.2. Symbolic Words are not Universal.
2.3. Arbitrariness of Symbolic Words
3. A Synchronic Comparison of Symbolic Words in Japanese and Korean --- p. 19 3-1. Classification by the Word Forms
3-1-1. In Japanese 3-1-2. In Korean 3-1-3. Conclusion
4. The Historical Development of Symbolic Words in Word-formation --- p. 32
5. An Etymological Comparison of Symbolic Words in Japanese and Korean --- p. 35 5-1. Nature-Related Symbolic Words – p. 37
5-2. Body-Related Symbolic Words – p. 48
5-3. The Other Symbolic Words –p. 63
6. Conclusion --- p. 86
§ Bibliography --- pp. 88-91
6
1. Introduction
a. Research Question
One of the most distinctive characteristics of the Japanese and Korean language is their symbolic words. Symbolic words are extensively utilized in both Japanese and Korean. The purpose of this study is to investigate if there is a sign that Japanese and Korean are cognates with regard to symbolic words. This research question will be examined by comparing contemporary symbolic words. Subsequently, I will analyze the historical development of word-formation in symbolic words and also analyze the origin of symbolic words between the two languages.
b. Review of Existing Studies
The first linguistic study about the relationship between the Japanese and Korean languages goes back over a century to Aston’s phonological and structural comparative study in 1879.
Long after this work, followed numerous outstanding scholars like Martin (1966) and Miller (1971) and Lee (1972) no (1975). 1
There is very little research which handles the topic focusing on the similarity between the two modern languages. An example is Mimetic parallels in Korean and Japanese by G i ue (1984). G i ue ’ study is quite a unique comparison by three dimensional cubes in symbolic words but it does not handle symbolic words in a diachronic view. As far as I know, in etymological comparative research about symbolic words between Korean and Japanese, Han-Il uytaypusa yenku [A study of mimetic adverbs (especially focused on the
1 According to Ramsey (1978), although a number of etymological and phonological correspondences have been proposed, these do not yet appear to be extensive or regular enough to convince many linguists of the actual relationship between Japanese and Korean.
7 lower body part) in Korean and Japanese] by Kim (1994) is the only study written in Korean.
Kim’s study focuses on the mimetic adverbs but does not address symbolic words’ structure including onomatopoeia. Regarding diachronic studies written only in Korean, there is “A tu y o ou ymboli m of mi le Ko e ” i t e “Hankuke uy uysenguytaye” [Korean symbolic words] by Kungnip Kugo Yo nguwo n (1993) and there is “A diachronic study of the ymboli m of Ko e ” by Han, Young-ah (2002).
To summarize, most of the research on symbolic words in Korean and Japanese handles the two languages separately, or focuses on the differences. Therefore, comparative studies based on the similarities connected to the etymological approach are needed.
c. The Concept of Symbolic Words
Mimetic words and onomatopoeia are considered as a part of sound symbolism in the existing western linguistic term2 but mimetic words should be excluded from the category of sound symbolism because mimetic words has nothing to do with sound. The definitions and terminology regarding symbolic words are a little bit different but mostly alike between Japanese and Korean linguists. In this paper, these definitions are rearranged as the following [ ] by combining the common definitions between the two countries in order to compare the two languages in common terms.
[Many languages have sound-symbolic words. The symbolic words in Japanese or Korean may be sub-classified as phonomimes or onomatopoeia (mimicking of natural sounds), phenomimes (depicting manners of the external world), and psychomimes (depicting mental conditions or states). The latter two sets are combined under the rubric of ‘ henomimes or mimetic words’. Onomatopoeia and mimetic words are together subsumed under the rubric of symbolic words]. (Sohn, 1999, p. 98; Shibatani, 1990, p. 153-154; Tsujimura, 2007, p.199)
An example of symbolic words in English can be illustrated by onomatopoeic words such as bow-wow and cock-a-doodle-doo and mimetic words such as helter-skelter and teeter-totter.
2 Sound symbolism is said to be present when a speech sound seems to correlate with an object in the real world.
The correlation may take the form of ‘onomatopoeia’ or ‘mimesis’. <Brown(ed.), 2006, p. 531>
8 Symbolic words
onomatopoeia phonomimes
mimetic words
phenomimes psychomimes
<Table 1> The Rubric of Symbolic Words
Japanese and Korean have a much larger vocabulary of symbolic words than Indo-European languages like English. This is because Japanese and Korean verbs have very general meanings and this lack of the specific verb meaning is compensated by the presence of symbolic words. The Japanese and Korean vocabularies include several thousand symbolic words and they are nearly the only native vocabulary not penetrated by Sino-Japanese or Sino-Korean. Symbolic words (including onomatopoeia) are used very frequently in all levels of Japanese and Korean, from conversation to literary works of all genres. It is unusual for Indo-European languages to have symbolic words. In contrast to Indo-European languages, the usage of mimetic words is a much more distinctive feature than the usage of onomatopoeia in the Japanese and Korean language.
d. Research Area
Every language has arbitrariness but there is a certain sense of coincidence when it comes to onomatopoeia3 that mimics sound. However, mimetic words -like phenomimes and psychomimes- have no such coincidence in the process of its word-formation. Symbolic words in both Korean and Japanese are mostly indigenous words which are far distant from Chinese influence. Therefore, comparing symbolic words of the two languages is a valuable area which we must not fail to notice when studying genealogy in Korean and Japanese.
3 According to Ku i Ku u (1993, p. 6-7) “voc l mimic y oul be i ti ui e it ymbolic words that can be expressed by segmental sounds, because after recognizing the object of sound, shape and state, the result of making it into a word is different in each language. In other words, the process and the result of encoding are different from country to country.”
9 In the synchronic comparison of symbolic words in Japanese and Korean, contemporary symbolic words are the research area used to comparatively analyze the word-structure between the two languages. In the etymological comparative study, both contemporary symbolic words and medieval and ancient symbolic words are the research area. As the subject of the etymological comparative study, I will handle mainly nature-related symbolic words and body-related symbolic words. The first reason is that the nature- and body-related words are core vocabulary which keeps the original word-form as non-cultural words better than any other vocabulary. Secondly, although there are not sufficient materials on the origin of symbolic words in Korean or Japanese vocabulary, it could be helpful for etymological studies to extract the etymological meanings of the inferred words which keep ancient word- feature among the vocabularies which have survived since the beginning of history. Thirdly, there are some existing studies which handle nature-related or body-related vocabularies, but the studies covering only symbolic words in those vocabularies are few. Therefore, I believe, it is well worth conducting an etymological study with a new approach.
The origin of symbolic words in this study is a concept of the correspondent object connoted in the symbolic words. For example, symbolic words like phalangphalang ‘t e aspect of something lightly fluttering in the wind’ i Ko e as derived from a noun that is palam
‘ i ’: pΛl (=pul.ta in its verb form) + Λm (nominal suffix). Of course all the symbolic words are not derived straight from nouns. Some symbolic words derive from verbs, some symbolic words derive from adverbs. In this study, I will try to find the origin and the meaning of symbolic words which derive from nouns by assuming that the developmental process consists of the following four types:
i) ou → symbolic words
ii) noun→(verb/adjective)→ symbolic words
iii) noun→(verb/adjective)→adverb→ symbolic words iv) noun→adverb → symbolic words
The concept of symbolic words is to copy the behaviour or appearance of something or somebody. Therefore, symbolic words must be related to the object itself since symbolic words are expressed on the basis of the human feelings of watching or touching the object.
10
e. Research Materials
For the synchronic comparison of symbolic words in Japanese and Korean, the exemplary symbolic words are extracted from the dictionaries- Shin meikai kokugo jiten (2005) for Japanese and Phyocwun Kwukedaysacen (2012) for Korean. Today, both dictionaries are in use mostly in Japan and Korea respectively.
For the etymological comparison of symbolic words in Japanese and Korean, the specific object materials are frequently-used mimetic adverbs among nature-related vocabularies like water, light, wind etc. and body-related vocabularies like eye, mouth, foot etc.
With the vocabulary words, I will find the proto-type of the words and clarify the historical word-formation process in the morphological and phonological views by comparing and tracing the derivation of the words between the two languages. I will try to find etymological meanings by correlating symbolic adverbs with the words which have the same root in Korean and Japanese. I will also suggest how diachronic process occurred and the object materials will be the vocabulary from published dictionaries of symbolic words (pp. 88-91).
f. Theoretical Framework
My writing is based upon the premise that the origin about the development of vocabulary starts from nouns. Scholars like Poppe (1965) or Lee (1972) consider noun forms as the original forms of vocabulary on the basis that an originated predicate prototype of verbs does not exist among Altaic4 languages, that noun forms have been used instead and that the noun forms have been taken as basic forms of all the verbs. So (1996) also regarded noun forms as the basic forms of verbs on the basis of the fact that noun and verbs have the same word forms in many Altaic languages. For example, ir-‘come’ y -‘ o’ e ve b tem o ou
4 Altaic is a proposed language family that includes the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and Japonic language families and the Korean language (Georg et al., 1999, p. 73-74).
11 forms and imperatives at the same time in a Mongol dialect(Khalkha) (Kim, 1990. p. 51-69). Based on the evidence of these arguments we can reinterpret Japanese and Korean words within symbolic words.
g. Disposition of the Thesis
This study is organized in the following order. In the chapter following this introduction, I will examine the universality of symbolic words in word-formation. Then, in the third chapter, I will do a synchronic comparative study of symbolic words in Korean and Japanese. The historical developmental process of symbolic words will be discussed in the fourth chapter.
The symbolic words in Korean and Japanese were derived from other parts of speech, that is, the symbolic words were developed from nouns, adverbs, verbs and adjectives. In the development of parts of speech in Korean, the phenomenon that many parts of speech were developed from nouns is widely found. I will examine the relativeness between the word- formation process of symbolic words and nouns because the discussion regarding the word- formation process of symbolic words is closely related to the origin and the extracting method for the origin of symbolic words. In the fifth chapter, I will trace symbolic words to their origin and original meaning. In this comparative study, symbolic words which are clearly related to objects, and also nature-related words and body-related words which are frequently used for internal reconstruction of the proto-type of words, will be mainly handled. The main method of external reconstruction of words will be the 1:1 correspondence of the vocabularies which are possibly the same in both the morphological and the phonological approach. In addition, by using a potential word-family feature, I will compare the vocabularies which have difficulties of 1:1 correspondence in their existing materials. In the final chapter, I will summarize and conclude the discussion.
12
2. The Universality of Symbolic Words
in Word-formation
It is generally acknowledged by linguists that when a word is correlated with an object in the real world, the word is called “sound symbolism (symbolic words according to my definition)”. This correlation can be formalized by onomatopoeia or mimetic words.
Symbolic words are generally accepted as a phenomenon of language. However,
The actual ratio of words in English that are expressed by sound symbolic elements is disputed by linguists. Some feel that language is mainly arbitrary and that sound symbolism is a mere fringe phenomenon; others aver that language is inherently sound symbolic and always striving to equate sound with sense. A similar question about whether the English language is growing more or less sound-symbolic or whether it maintains a ‘steady state’ equally remains unanswerable. <Brown (ed.), 2006, p. 531 >
As mentioned, the academic research on symbolic words is divided into two views and each view analyzes each phenomenon in detail. Sound symbolism has been found in many languages.
High front vowels in English represent soft or small sounds (ping, click), whereas low and back vowels represent larger, louder sounds (bang, boom). Even if there are exceptions to every pattern in human languages, it can be demonstrated that some sound symbolism has a biological basis<Frawley (ed.), 2003, p.113>.
I assume symbolic words play a more important role than many linguists feel or believe.
2.1. Examples of Symbolic Words
2.1.1. English
a. Physical Symbolic words
- Related to use of a voice or intonation to express speaker’s emotional or physical status. It includes unconscious symptomatic voices like cough or hiccup.
13 i) Aaugh!
ii) Achoo!
b. Sound-imitating Symbolic words
- Related to onomatopoeia expressing environmental sounds. It includes crying sounds of birds or animals.
i) Onomatopoeia: crow, hiccup, meow, plop
ii) Reduplicative onomatopoeia: chitter-chatter, moo-moo, puff-puff
c. Synesthetic Symbolic words
- Defined as an acoustic symbolism of non-acoustic phenomenon. These symbolic words show that phonetically natural words are systematically related to the expression of size.
i) small (or soft) sound: high front vowel, voiceless consonant, high tone – ping, click ii) large (or louder) sound: low back vowel, voiced consonant, low tone – bang, boom
d. Conventional Symbolic words
- Sounds or sound clusters that seem to bear meaning within symbolic words.
i) ‘ l’ => litte li te lo limme
2.1.2. Japanese / Korean a. Visual Symbolic words
i) no-ro-no-ro / nu-lit-nu-lit ‘slowly’
ii) na-mi-na-mi / nam-sil-nam-sil ‘filled to the top o i li ve ’
14
b. Auditive Symbolic words
i) cha-ra-cha-ra / ccal-lang- ccal-lang ‘cli k, jingle’
ii) sa-ku-sa-ku / sa-kak-sa-kak ‘crunching, freshly crisp’
c. Tactile Symbolic words
i) ka-sa-ka-sa / kka-sul-kka-sul ‘coarse or dried out feeling from lack of moisture’
ii) hu-nya-hu-nya / hu-nul-hu-nul ‘to feel soft, flaccid’
d. Symbolic words of Taste
i) ba-sa-ba-sa / ba-sak-ba-sak ‘dry and crumbly due to lack of moisture or oil content’
ii) sa-ku-sa-ku / sa-kak-sa-kak ‘freshly crisp texture’
e. Symbolic words of Smell
i) Japanese; pun-pun ‘to smell strongly’
ii) Korean; hwak ‘to smell strongly’5
f. Mental Symbolic words
i) a-ta-fu-ta / an-cel-pu-cel ‘flustered, restlessly’
ii) ji:n / ccing’ ‘touched deeply, oi tly’
5 In Korean, the stem pwun of the verb pwunkita ‘to mell’ t e me me i pun in Japanese.
15
2.2. Symbolic Words are not Universal.
By evaluating the range of classifying the examples of symbolic words, we are one step closer to understanding that symbolic words have universality. Since the purpose of language is communication, the criterion for evaluation of the universality of symbolic words is whether one easily-understands naturally or not. In other words, the understanding of symbolic words needs to be natural in order to have universality. If the symbolic words are not easily-understood, then they can be considered to be arbitrary. As shown above, English symbolic words are classified by physical, sound-imitating, synesthetic and conventional ways while Japanese and Korean symbolic words are classified in six ways: visual, auditive, tactile, taste, smell and mental. Thus, English and Japanese/Korean seem to have a different categorization of symbolic words, respectively four ways to six. These ways are actually similar because Japanese and Korean just have more concrete in expressions. However, if there is a clear difference, it is that English is closer to an academic use of the language while Japanese and Korean are closer to a pragmatic view of it, in which the language user’s feeling is highlighted. Therefore, how natural symbolic words are in the academic and pragmatic views of language is the criteria for evaluating universality.
First, in the academic view, we need to review synesthetic and conventional symbolic words.
According to Brown (2006, p. 536),
It has been noted that, in a tonal language such as Cantonese, high pitch connotes smallness, and the /i/ phonestheme has a high pitched second formant. In addition, diminutives expressed by the /i/ suffix do seem to pass across language communities:
English -y, -ie, -kin, -ling; Du -ie, -je; Greek -i- ; Goth -ein; Swiss German –li; Italian –ino; Sp -ico, -ito, -illo. It has been also suggested that the words mama and papa may work as partial universals, and this is perhaps a case of /ɑ/ expressing the concepts of
‘warm, round, soft.’
Second, in the pragmatic view, the remaining ways, namely the: physical, sound-imitating, visual, auditive, tactile, taste, smell and mental are reviewed. For example, in English the cat cries ‘meow’ while in Korean the cat cries ‘nyaong’. The words ‘meow’ ‘nyaong’ start with the same phonetic properties of [+nasal] as <Table 2> below illustrates, yet they have different writings and are pronounced differently. In other words, some symbolic words have biological traits (e.g. nasal phonetic properties in words communicating the crying of a cat)
16 but they are not universal for every language. According to the listener, the biological traits can be different from country to country, due to different phonological systems. Obviously, people in Korea would find it strange if someone said that a cat cries ‘meow’. Likewise, people in the UK would likely correct someone who says that a cat cries ‘nyaong’, by telling them that a cat actually cries ‘meow’.
In conclusion, the natural traits of symbolic words are prominent in the academic view but can be quite different according to the phonological system of each language in the pragmatic view. Therefore, symbolic words are not universal.
<Table 2> Interjections Imitating Seven Animal Calls, from 16 Different Languages ( Abeli . 1999, p. 203)
17
2.3. Arbitrariness of Symbolic Words
2.3.1. Onomatopoeia
We know that the research on the arbitrariness of onomatopoeia has a significantly different result depending on if it is the speaker’s mother tongue used. Let us say there are a man who speaks Korean as his first language and a man who speaks English as his first language, provided that they can only speak their first language. If the Korean expresses the word twukunkelita ‘ l it te’ it onomatopoeia, the man notices the meaning immediately after hearing twukuntwukun. This is because people use a similar word that defines palpitation as onomatopoeia. Actually, twukun is the same part in twu.kun.ke.li.ta and twu.kun.twu.kun, and the man can analogize the meaning with comparative ease according to the feeling of twukun.
However, the Korean man might not be able to analogize after hearing the word palpitate. In Korean, the pronunciation of palpit is very uncommon. Therefore, a common pronunciation is more often used than unfamiliar pronunciation when people explain a phenomenon. Likewise, the English man who does not use Korean as his first language might not be used to hearing the word twukuntwukun.
For that reason, we can anologize two conclusions. Firstly, onomatopoeia has no arbitrariness. As showed above, the reason is that people have unconscious or conscious onomatopoeia which has a similar sound to the word when they imitate some action. Some examples are as follows. In Korean, kaekuli ‘a frog’ croaks kaekwulkaekwul. The animal name kaekuli may originate from the croaking sound kaekwulkaekwul, or the sound may originate from the animal name, kaekuli. The important thing is not the order of the incident but that the object and the sound of the object have a similar meaning. It is considered to be an effort to closely combine the language and practical life.
Secondly, as stated above, differences in onomatopoeia depend on the pronunciation system of each language. In Korean onomatopoeia, toktok means ‘knock, knock’. Surely the meaning between the two lanuguages is absolutely the same, but the pronunciation is not. Both of the words are not exactly same as the actual sound.
18
2.3.2. Mimetic words
Mimetic words are overlaps with onomatopoeia in a broad category. For example, daradara/taratara ‘co ti uou i i of e vy liqui like e t bloo etc. or dragging on without end or e tly lo i ’ can be both onomatopoeia and mimetic words in Japanese. In Korean, walulu/wululu ‘f ll o with a crash; coll e e vily it c ’ and chalchal/chulchul ‘b immi ly/ove flo i ly’ are similar examples. However, it is hard to say that mimetic words have no arbitrariness like onomatopoeia.
Let us refer to the example of da-ra-da-ra (>ta-ra-ta-ra). Its meaning is continuous dripping of heavy liquid like sweat, blood, etc. But, a question is instigated: Is the sound really like da- ra-da-ra? No, it is not. Somebody made the onomatopoeia while seeing and hearing the phenomenon and the word perhaps later became a mimetic word. It has the meaning of dragging on without end or e tly lo i ’. It is a kind of sign or rule in society like the function of each language. Mimetic words are not the relation among the close word-family that can explain its meaning from the beginning. Mimetic words are admitted as a word after the word and the explanation of the mimetic words is fixed in society. Therefore, we can say mimetic words have arbitrariness.
19
3. A Synchronic Comparison of Symbolic Words in Japanese and Korean
-Through Classification by the Word Forms
In the following I will comparatively analyze symbolic words in Japanese and Korean according to the regular word forms as a starting point to verify the cognation between the two languages. Hepburn6 <Table 3-2> and Yale romanization7<Table 3-1-1, Table 3-1-2>
systems are used for Japanese and Korean respectively, which are the most widely used, especially in the English-speaking world. The Hepburn and Yale romanization systems will be used for the following chapters as well. The exemplary symbolic words in the classifications below are extracted from the dictionaries- Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al. (2005) for Japanese and Ku i Ku u (2012) for Korean, which are in-use mostly today in the respective countries.
Consonant ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ transcription k kk n t tt l m p pp s ss ng c cc ch kh th ph h
Vowel ㅏ ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅔ ㅚ ㅟ ㅑ ㅕ ㅛ ㅠ ㅒ ㅖ ㅘ ㅙ ㅝ ㅞ ㅢ
transcription a e o wu
/u* u i ay ey oy wi ya ye yo yu yay yey wa way we wey uy
* After labial consonants
<Table 3-1-1> Korean Yale Romanization System
6 The original and revised variants of Hepburn remain the most widely used methods of transcription of Japanese. As Hepburn is based on English and Italian phonology, an English speaker unfamiliar with Japanese will generally pronounce a word romanized in Hepburn more accurately than a word romanized in the competing Kunrei-shiki. (Kodansha, 1983, p. 335-336)
7 Korean Yale was developed by Samuel Elmo Martin and his colleagues at Yale University about half a decade after McCune-Reischauer. It is the standard romanization of the Korean language in linguistics. It is the most systematic and thoughtfully constructed transcription of earlier Korean… (Lee and Ramsey, 2000, p. 10).
20 Vowel comparison
Items Middle Korean Contemporary Korean
ㅗ wo o
ㅚ woy oy
ㅛ ywo yo
ㅜ wu(always) wu
u: after labial consonants :
ㅠ ywu yu
ㆌ ywuy NA
ㆍ o* NA
ㆎ oy NA
*o=Ʌ (International Phonetic Alphabet)
<Table 3-1-2> Vowel Comparison of Korean Yale Romanization System
あ a い i う u え e お o (ya) (yu) (yo)
か ka き ki く ku け ke こ ko きゃ kya きゅ kyu きょ kyo
さ sa し shi す su せ se そ so しゃ sha しゅ shu しょ sho
た ta ち chi つ tsu て te と to ちゃ cha ちゅ chu ちょ cho
な na に ni ぬ nu ね ne の no にゃ nya にゅ nyu にょ nyo
は ha ひ hi ふ fu へ he ほ ho ひゃ hya ひゅ hyu ひょ hyo
ま ma み mi む mu め me も mo みゃ mya みゅ myu みょ myo
や ya ゆ yu よ yo
ら ra り ri る ru れ re ろ ro りゃ rya りゅ ryu りょ ryo
わ wa *ゐ wi *ゑ we を wo ん n
が ga ぎ gi ぐ gu げ ge ご go ぎゃ gya ぎゅ gyu ぎょ gyo
ざ za じ ji ず zu ぜ ze ぞ zo じゃ ja じゅ ju じょ jo
だ da ぢ ji づ zu で de ど do ぢゃ ja ぢゅ ju ぢょ jo
ば ba び bi ぶ bu べ be ぼ bo びゃ bya びゅ byu びょ byo
ぱ pa ぴ pi ぷ pu ぺ pe ぽ po ぴゃ pya ぴゅ pyu ぴょ pyo
*ゐ wi, ゑ we are not used in contemporary Japanese.
<Table 3-2> Japanese Hepburn Romanization system
21
3-1. Classification by the Word Forms
3-1-1. In Japanese
The examples of symbolic words in each category below, which are a-dan ‘a-row’ group8 in the Japanese hiragana order, were extracted in a random sampling method from the Japanese dictionary mentioned above. According to the word forms, the symbolic words can be divided into five categories: 1-1 <Reduplication>, 1-2 < Particular Phonemes Added - small tsu (moraic9 obstruent /Q/)10, syllabic n (moraic nasal /N/)11 , ri and long vowel >, 1-3
<
O
pposition in Consonant Quality > and 1-4 <Irregular Combination>. The number of Japanese symbolic words is approximately 1600.12 In the dictionary of Amanuma (1978), the number is 1523 and it is 1597 in the dictionary of tsubo (1982).
8 In the dictionary of tsubo (1982), the frequency of the a-initial is 26% by my calculation which shows the largest distribution in symbolic words.
9 Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing.
10 Double consonants are marked by doubling the consonant following the small tsu (moraic obstruent /Q/), except for sh → ssh, ch → tch, ts → tts. The other cases are transcribed as t.
e.g.) kekka ‘ Re ult’ sassato ‘quickly’, zutto ‘all the time’, kippu ‘ticket’ zasshi ‘ magazine’, issho ‘to et e ’ kotchi (not kocchi) ‘ this way’, mittsu ‘ t ee’ sa-kut ‘cutti off ly’.
11 Syllabic n (moraic nasal/N/) is written as n before consonants, but as m before labial consonants, i.e. b, m, and p. It is also written n' (with an apostrophe) before vowels and y.
12 According to Ku i Ku u (1993, p. 140), the number of the set of Korean symbolic words is 1109 and the set of Japanese symbolic words is 617 when grouping the opposition in consonant quality and the opposition in vowel quality. It shows that the amount of Korean symbolic words is about 1.7 times more than Japanese symbolic words. Meanwhile, the number of Korean symbolic words is 8286 in the Yanbian Language Institute (1981).
22
a. Reduplication
13The symbolic words in this category mainly have four syllables and the shapes look like X(Y)(Z)X(Y)(Z) - X, Y and Z denote different syllables. They depict a temporal repetition or continuation. Occasionally, six-syllable symbolic words are also found like u-tsu-ra-u-tsu-ra
‘drowsing’ but there is few and none found in the a-dan group. The six-syllable symbolic words just repeat the first three syllables. The reduplicated symbolic words are mostly followed by the verb suru14 or the quotative particle to. The examples are represented by the syllable boundary (.).
e.g.) a.ri.a.ri ‘to clearly see in one's mind's eye’- psychomimes (psy. in the following) ka.cha.ka.cha ‘cli ki ’-phonomimes (pho. in the following)
sa.ku.sa.ku ‘crunching; freshly crisp’-pho.
ta.ra.ta.ra ‘to continuously drip (sweat or liquid); long- i e ly ( eec )’
- pho. / phenomimes (phe. in the following) na.mi.na.mi ‘filled almost to overflowing’- phe.
b. Particular Phonemes Added-
small tsu (moraic obstruent /Q/), syllabic n (moraic nasal /N/), ri and long vowel.b-1. Small tsu (moraic obstruent /Q/)
Small tsu sounds assimilate according to the following consonants [k, p, t and s]. The shapes look like X (Y) (Z) tsu or X tsu (Y) (Z). The meaning implies a momentary single occurrence of an action. They are mostly followed by the quotative particle to
13 It takes up to 49% out of whole Japanese symbolic words in the dictionary of Amanuma (1978) and it takes up to 46% in the dictionary of tsubo (1982).
14 The verb suru by itself is a full-fle e ve b me i ‘ o’ but e it i combi e it ve b l ou it own meaning is hardly retained. Rather, the meaning of the complex verb consisting of the verbal noun and suru is attributed mostly to the meaning of the verbal noun (Tsujimura, 1999, p. 139).
23 e.g.) as.sa.ri ‘light, plain, simple; without second thought’- phe.
kak.ka ‘to blaze or burn vigorously; to fluster (either from shyness or anger)- phe.
sa.kut ‘cutti off ly’-pho.
tap.pu.ri ‘full; tuffe ’-phe.
b-2. Syllabic n (moraic nasal /N/) Added
These symbolic words express an interval and reverberation, and are mostly followed by the quotative particle to. The shapes look like X(Y)(Z)n or X(Y)nX(Y)(n). Colons below over vowels mean long vowels
e.g.) a:n' ‘crying with the mouth open’- pho.
za.bun' ‘big splash; plunging’-pho.
tam.ma.ri ‘quite a lot’-phe.
b-3. Syllable ri Added
Symbolic words ending with ri depict temporary slowness or softness and mostly belong to phenomimes and are also almost followed by the quotative particle to. The shapes look like X (Y) ri X (Y) ri or X Y (Z) ri.
e.g.) an'.gu.ri ‘gazing open-mouthed; dumbfounded with the mouth wide open’- phe./psy.
ka.ra.ri ‘ le tly y; clearing up; cheerful’-phe.
sa.ra.ri ‘fresh and dry; light and smooth; easygoing’-phe.
ta.ra.ri ‘dripping slowly’-phe.
b-4. Long Vowel Added
Symbolic words with long vowels depict strongness and the continuity of a long interval.
The shapes look like X: Y: or X (Y): Z (colon means long vowel). They are mostly followed by the quotative particle to.
24 e.g.) a:n'a:n' ‘crying with the mouth open’- pho.
ka:ka: ‘crying sounds of crows’-pho za:za: ‘sound of downpour’- pho.
wa:wa: ‘crying loudly’-pho.
ji:n' ‘touched deeply; oi tly’-phe./psy.(exceptionally extracted from い- dan to show the shape X (Y): Z)
c. Opposition in Consonant Quality
There are voiced and unvoiced types in this category. The forms are found in all the different types shown above. When a symbolic word is voiced in its first syllable, the meaning tends to connote louder or heavier sounds, or stronger, rougher, bigger actions or states, whereas the unvoiced symbolic words connote softer or lighter sound, or small, sharp, delicate actions or states. They are mostly followed by the quotative particle to or the conjunctional particle ni.
e.g.) ga.ri.ga.ri (ka.ri.ka.ri) ‘to scratch, grind or chew hard things; ove ly t i ’ -pho./phe.
za.wa.za.wa (sa.wa.sa.wa) ‘rustling; stirring’-pho
da.ra.da.ra (ta.ra.ta.ra) ‘co ti uou i i of e vy liqui like e t bloo etc. or dragging on without end or e tly lo i ’ - pho. /phe.
ba.ra.ba.ra (pa.ra.pa.ra) ‘ ou of il itti c tte i ;to b e k i to iece ’ - pho. /phe.
pa.ra.pa.ra (ha.ra.ha.ra)15 ‘to sprinkle or scatter sparsely; fli t ou e ’- pho./phe.
15 This is not the relation between voiced and unvoiced phonemes. The p: h opposition in consonant quality only shows the slight different in nuance. In other words, the consonant p in Japanese connotes louder or heavier sounds, or stronger, rougher, bigger actions or states,while the consonant h connotes softer or lighter sounds, or small, sharp, delicate actions or states.
25
d. Irregular Combination
Symbolic words in this category are used for expressing diverse and complex meanings by combining different elements. Phenomimes are often found in this category. The shape of the symbolic words in this category mainly looks like X Y Z Y.
e.g.) a.ta.fu.ta ‘hurriedly; flustered; panicky’- phe. /psy.
ka.ta.pi.shi ‘creaking sound; wranglingly’- pho./phe.
u.ro.cho.ro ‘loitering noisily or restlessly’-phe. (exceptionally extracted from u-dan
to show a good example)
3-1-2. In Korean
The exemplary symbolic words in each classification below, which belong to a-vowel group (a, ay, ya, wa, way) words in the Korean alphabet (Hangul) order were extracted by a random sampling method from the Korean dictionary (Phyocwun Kwuketaysacen.2008). According to the word forms, symbolic words can be divided into four categories: <Reduplication>,
<Particular Phonemes Added - k/p/s, n/m/ng, li and l>, <Opposition in Consonant Quality >,
<Opposition in Vowel Quality >, <Irregular Combination>.
a. Reduplication
a-1. Reduplication
The symbolic words in this category mainly have two or four syllables and the shapes look like X(Y)X(Y) -X,Yand Z denotes different syllables. They depict a temporal repetition or continuation. These words are found mostly in symbolic words like the cases in Japanese.
They are often followed by a suffix hata16 or a continuative suffix kelita17 but not followed by a quotative particle. They independently function as adverbs in sentences.
16 It changes the word class to a verb or an adjective by combining with a noun or an adverb.
26 e.g.) nam.sil.nam.sil ‘filled to the top o i li ve ’-phe
a.lun.a.lun ‘to be faintly seen in one's (mind's) eye’- phe./psy.
sa.kak.sa.kak ‘crunching; freshly crisp’-pho.
cwal.cwal ‘to flo fo cibly’-pho.
cwal.lang. ccal.lang ‘cli ki ’-pho
a-2. Partial Reduplication
This type of symbolic words is found only in Korean. Partial reduplication is used in case of emphasizing meaning or adjusting rhythm and pattern. As seen below, the shapes look like XX′Y or XYY′ and they change from two syllables to three syllables. The partial reduplication is mostly done by reduplication of the last syllable, but ‘twu -twung -sil’ shows the reduplication of the first syllable. (It was exceptionally extracted from u-vowel group in order to illustrate a good example)
e.g.) twu.twung.sil ‘floating gently [lightly]’-phe.
tta.ta.tak ‘ c tc i [touching] sound against the frame of a rolling wheel’-pho.
pa.du.duk ‘with a grating [rasping, creaking] sound’-pho.
a.sa.sak ‘with a crunching sound’-pho.
b. Particular phonemes added
- k/p/s, n/m/ng, li and lA Korean syllable consists of an initial sound, a medial vowel and a final consonant. The initial sound and final consonant are optional (just like English) whereas a Japanese syllable always ends with a vowel, except for the small tsu and n. The symbolic words in this category end with various consonants and vowels. However the particular phonemes k/p/s, n/m/ng and li18 , are correspondent or similar to small tsu (moraic obstruent /Q/), syllabic n (moraic nasal /N/), ri in Japanese and the type ended with l is not found in the types in Japanese above. They also function independently as adverbs in sentences.
17 It is a suffix meaning repetition of action by combining after symbolic words.
18 The phonemes [l] and [r] are not in a distinctive opposition in Korean
27
b-1. Final consonants - k/p/s
The meaning implies a sound of disconnection, and light and non-elastic state or action.
These can be formed with one syllable whereas Japanese symbolic words mostly have at least two syllables.
e.g.) ttak ‘breaking or discontinuous sound or exactness - pho./phe.
na.kus.na.kus ‘gentle action or state; flexibly; mildly; gently; feebly’-phe.
ccap.ccap ‘the sound of m cki o e’ lips’-pho.
sa.kak.sa.kak ‘crunching; freshly crisp’-pho.
b-2. Final consonants - n/m/ng
The symbolic words express a light continuity or prolonged resonance. These can also be formed with one syllable.
e.g.) ka.man.ka.man ‘softly, quietly, gently and lightly ’-pho.
sal.kum.sal.kum ‘sneakingly’-phe.
chal.lang.chal.lang ‘clink; jingle; tinkle’-pho.
khwang ‘with a bang!’-pho.
b-3. Syllable li added
In addition to li, there are many symbolic words which end with different sounds, for example, lay, lo, lu, ci, chi, i, etc. But the common feature is that they all end with vowels.
Therefore there is no regularity for the meanings, though they mostly belong to phenomimes, which are similar to the ri ending in Japanese.
e.g.) a.li.a.li ‘dim; indistinct’- phe./psy.
wa.lu.lu ‘f ll ( o [collapse] with a crash’-pho./phe.
ca.lu.lu ‘glossy and oily’-phe.
28
b-4. Final consonant - l
Symbolic words ending with ‘l’ depict rhythmical or repetitive sound, or flowing or continuous states.
e.g.) pa.tul.pa.tul ‘tremblingly; shiveringly’- phe.
a.sul.a.sul ‘thrilling or narrowly’- phe.
an.cel.pu.cel ‘ e tle ly; impatiently; nervously’-phe./psy.
chal.chal ‘brimmingly’- pho./phe.
c. Opposition in Consonant Quality
There are three types of consonant articulation in Korean: plain, reinforced and aspirated.
Plain consonants tend to connote slow, gentle, heavy and big states. Reinforced consonants tend to connote swift, hard, tight and compact states. Aspirated consonants tend to depict flexibility, elasticity, crispness and sharpness. It is very difficult to differentiate the meaning between the three types, but there is nevertheless a delicate nuance between them as explained above. The productivity of opposition in consonant quality can be reviewed with a basic example such as calkatak ‘ ith a click; with a snap’. Calkatak is divided into two sub-groups:
‘calkatak, celketek, celkatak’ and ‘calkak, celkek, celkak.’ Each sub-group has nine alternatives because each first letter c in the first syllable of each sub-group can be replaced it ‘c, cc, and ch’ and each second letter k in the second syllable of each sub-group can be replaced it ‘k, kk, kh.’ I ot e o t e fi t ub-group has nine alternatives: ‘calkatak, calkkatak, calkhatak, ccalkatak, ccalkkatak, ccalkhatak, chalkatak, chalkkatak, chalkhatak.
(Ku i Ku u , 1993, p. 77)
e.g.) Plain / Reinforced / Aspirated
tal.kak / tal.kkak / tal.khak ‘with a click (relatively gentle / hard / sharp)’-pho.
tayng.tayng / ttayng.ttayng / thayng.thayng ‘ olle u (relatively plain/ compact/
el tic)’ -phe.
pa.tu.tuk / ppa.tu.tuk / pha.tu.tuk ‘ it grating [rasping, creaking] sound (relatively slow and heavy / faster and tight /fastest and crispy)’-pho.
29
payng.payng / ppayng.ppayng / phayng.phayng ‘tu i ou ou / spinning / spinning faster relatively’-phe.
cal.ku.lang / ccal.ku.lang / chal.ku.lang ‘with a clink (relatively heavy / tight / sharp)’
- pho.
d. Opposition in Vowel Quality
Many symbolic words appear in two or more shapes by reflected vowels. For example, according to Lee and Ramsey (2011, p. 162) and Sohn (1999, p. 96), there are three classes of vowels in Korean: yang (bright), yin (dark), and neutral. Yang vowels and Yin vowels are classified by the tongue positions when the sounds are articulated. If the tongue positions are low (or open) they are yang vowels such as /a, ay, o/ as opposed to yin vowels such as /ey, wu, e/, in which the tongue positions are high (or close).
Traditionally, Korean had a strong vowel harmony which is argued to be an Altaic languages’
trait. However, in modern Korean, it is only applied in certain cases, such as symbolic words and native Korean words. Yang vowels tend to connote bright, light, small, thin, sharp and quick states while the yin vowels connote dark, heavy, big, thick, dull and slow states. The shapes mostly look like X (Y) X (Y). It is because the vowel harmonies are mostly found in the forms of reduplication.
e.g.) kkang.chong.kkang.chong / kkeng.chwung.kkeng.chwung ‘to jump up and down
/ to jump up and down with a large motion’-phe.
sayng.kul.sayng.kul / sing.kul.sing.kul ‘smiling affably/gently’-phe.
wa.lu.lu / wu.lu.lu ‘f ll (down) with a crash/collapse heavily with a crash’ -pho./phe.
chal.chal / chul.chul ‘brimmingly/overflowingly’- pho./phe.
ha.nul.ha.nul / hu.nul.hu.nul ‘lightly, airily/slowly, lu i ly’-phe.
e. Irregular Combination
S
ymbolic words in this category are used for expressing diverse and complex meanings by combining different elements. Phenomimes are often found in this category. The shape of the symbolic words in this category mainly looks like X Y Z Y.30 e.g.) a.ki.ca.ki ‘harmonious in appearance; visually charming/entertainingly in a small scale’
- phe. /psy.
a.tung.pa.tung ‘possessed; ob e e ’ - psy.
al.tul.sal.tul ‘thriftily; with frugality’ - psy.
al.ssong.tal.ssong ‘variegated; motley/ ambiguous; obscure’- phe./psy.
3-1-3. Conclusion
As observed in the above classifications, the forms of onomatopoeic and mimetic words in Japanese and Korean are common in many ways. However, there are also a few differences.
To sum up, the common and different features of the Japanese and Korean symbolic words in forms are as follows. The Japanese symbolic words are classified by the forms in following four categories: <Reduplication>, <Particular Phonemes Added>, <Opposition in Consonant Quality>, and <Irregular Combination>. The Korean symbolic words are divided into the following five categories: <Reduplication, Particular Phonemes Added>, <Opposition in Consonant Quality, <Opposition in Vowel Quality>, and <Irregular Combination>. Therefore, the symbolic words in these two languages have common forms in <Reduplication>,
<Particular Phonemes Added>, <Opposition in Consonant Quality> and <Irregular Combination>.
In the case of <Reduplication>, the shapes look like X (Y) X (Y) in both languages, but Japanese symbolic words hardly have two syllable forms while Korean symbolic words have many. It is because all Japanese syllables (or moras) except for small tsu (moraic obstruent /Q/) and syllabic n (moraic nasal /N/) are open syllables19, meaning they all end with a vowel and do not usually have a meaning in a mora, while Korean syllables consist of initial sounds, medial vowels and final consonants and can have a meaning in a syllable. This feature is related to the category of <Particular Phonemes Added> too. Korean symbolic words in the category which has endings with final consonants are more various than Japanese symbolic
19 A syllable is typically made up of a vowel (V) with optional initial and final consonants(C). A syllable ends with a non-consonant is called an open syllable (V, CV, CCV, etc.), while a syllable that ends with a consonant is called a closed syllable (VC, CVC, CVCC, etc.).
31 words which mostly end with vowels. It is because the range of consonant variation is wider than vowel variation in both languages and Korean symbolic words can be formed with one syllable while Japanese symbolic words mostly have at least two syllables.
Japanese symbolic words in the category of <Opposition in Consonant Quality>, are produced by unvoiced and voiced sound while the Korean symbolic words are produced by plain, reinforced and aspirated sound.
The most different feature of symbolic words between two languages is the <Opposition in Vowel Quality>. Many Korean symbolic words appear in two or more shapes by reflected vowels but Japanese symbolic words lack the vowel harmony which is argued to be an Altaic languages’ trait (Miller, 1971, P. 61-64). Some consider that such a process must have existed at one time. However, a consensus has not been reached.
In this chapter, I comparatively analyzed the symbolic words in word-form as a starting point to verify the kinship between the two languages. For the following chapters, studies of historical, phonological and etymological approach in symbolic words will be carried out.
32
4. The Historical Development of
Symbolic Words in Word-formation
In this chapter, I will discuss symbolic words which are used only as constituent adverbs20 in the Japanese and Korean languages. The Japanese and Korean vocabularies include thousands of symbolic words, and those symbolic words are mostly indigenous words which are not influenced by the Chinese language.
In order to trace a mimetic word to its origin and original meaning, morphological analysis of the mimetic word needs to be done. The first step is to review how the word class of symbolic words developed. The developing process of symbolic words in word-formation will be discussed from three views: morphological analysis, the origin, and phonological reconstruction.
First, in a morphological analysis, the most frequent word structure of symbolic words in Japanese and Korean is a syllable reduplication form like X(Y)(Z)+X'(Y')(Z'). The preceding form ‘X’ eflects the meaning of the word and the following form ‘( )(Z)’
expresses the difference of subtle nuance on the basis of basic meaning. Therefore, the origin of symbolic words is extracted from the preceding form ‘X’. Regarding tracing symbolic words to their origin, the preceding form is treated as an important constituent in a mimetic word and the origin of symbolic words can be extracted from the preceding form.
e.g.1) ken.twung.ken.twung / ken.seng.ken.seng ‘giving a lick and a promise, halfheartedly ’ kwup.sin.kwup.sin / kwup.sil.kwup.sil‘bowing ob equiou ly’
na.kun.na.kun / na.kus.na.kus ‘flexibly, mildly, gently, feebly’
pang.kus.pang.kus / pang.sil.pang.sil ‘ mili ily’
pi.chil.pi.chil / pi.tul.pi.tul ‘totteringly, staggeringly’
20 Constituent adverbs are adverbs that define a constituent in a sentence. The word class of symbolic words is
‘ ve b’ but not a sentence adverb in a syntactical function. (Ku i Ku u ,1993, p. 57)
33 e.g.1) is an example of Korean symbolic words that show the difference of subtle nuance by syllable switching. In these pairs, the two words do not show the difference of basic meaning, but there are subtle differences in nuance. The reason that the two words do not show the difference of basic meaning is because of the same preceding syllable form, and the difference of subtle nuance results from the switching of the following syllable form. Therefore, we can infer the fact that Korean symbolic words imply the meaning of the origin in their preceding forms. This kind of phenomenon is shown below in e.g.2). In e.g.2), the phonemes and the meanings between Korean and Japanese symbolic words are directly correspondent.
e.g.2) Korean / Japanese
nam.sil.nam.sil / nam.i.nam.i 21 ‘filled to the top o i li ve ’ na.kut.na.kut / na.yo.na.yo ‘flexibly mil ly e tly feebly’
Second, regarding the origin of symbolic words, the preceding syllable forms of symbolic words are considered to derive from nouns. Original meanings of the stems in symbolic words are interpreted in a relation to nouns, even though the stems are related to verbs and adverbs.
In other words, this chapter is based upon the premise that the origin of the development of vocabulary starts from nouns. In Korean, the adjective pulk.ta ‘red’ originates from the noun pul ‘fire’ and adjective phu.lu.ta ‘blue’ originates from noun phul ‘grass’, and the adjective huyta ‘ ite’ o i i te f om noun hay ‘ u ’( , 2003, p. 324-325).
Third, in a phonological reconstruction, there is the issue of how we analyze symbolic words morphologically when we think that the structure of symbolic words is considered to be a form (preceding syllable form + following syllable form). The assumption that the last phoneme of the preceding syllable form of a word was a consonantal phoneme and that the prototype of a word was a one-syllable word in ancient times, is based on the way of reconstruction of prototype-words and disappeared-words organized in So (1996, p. 20-145).
The summary is as follows.
21All Japanese syllables end with a vowel except for small tsu (moraic obstruent /Q/) and syllabic n (moraic nasal /N/), while Korean syllables consist of initial sounds, a medial vowel and final consonants and can have meaning in a syllable. Therefore, the syllables of na.mi.na.mi can be divided to nam.i.nam.i when compared to the Korean symbolic word nam.sil.nam.sil.
34 In contemporary Korean, a sound change of the postpositional subject particle ‘i’ and ‘ka’
occurs depending on the existence of a consonantal phoneme just before the particle.
However, the subject particle was only ‘i’ before the Middle Ages in Korea and the subject particle ‘ka’ developed in the 16th century AD. Considering this fact, we can infer that ancient nouns are suitable forms to combine with the particle ‘i’. In other words, the ancient Korean nouns are a closed syllable. In Korean, nature-related words like mul ‘water’ pit
‘light’, pyel ‘star’, pi ‘rain’, tal ‘moon’ etc. are all one-syllable words. Body-related words like nun ‘eye’, kho ‘nose’, kui ‘ear’, mok ‘neck’, ppye ‘bone’, phal ‘arm’, pal ‘foot’, ip ‘mout ’ etc. are also one-syllable words. Kho ‘nose’ in 15th century AD was ko. The stem kol of the verb kol.ta ‘snore’ was ko > kol before. The Korean proto-nouns were divided into two and three syllables and thereafter nouns with open syllable endings appeared. As a result, the subject particle ‘ka’ is needed instead of ‘i’. This kind of presumption is not only related to the subject particle ‘i’ and ‘ka’, but also related to the postpositional object particle ‘ul→lul’
and the topic maker‘un→nun’. Therefore, the particle changes show the changing procedure of noun forms from closed syllables to open syllables. This can be also applied to tracing symbolic words to their origin.
My assumption of the historical development of the word-formation of symbolic words is as follows. A lexical morpheme of symbolic words can be reconstructed to a noun. For example, ppal of ppal.li.ppal.li ‘quickly’ can be considered to derive from a noun form that means pal
‘feet’. Some symbolic words derive from an adverb, but the symbolic words can be reconstructed to nouns eventually. For example, pan.ccak.pan.ccak ‘glittering, twinkling’ is thought to be a reduplication of the adverb panccak in Korean. Considering the relation between vocabulary words like pitpal ‘ray of light’, penkay ‘lightning’, and pyet ‘sunlight’, the symbolic word pan.ccak is thought to have originated from a noun that has a meaning of pit ‘li t’. Some symbolic words use stems of verbs or adjectives as the lexical morpheme and these symbolic words can be reconstructed to nouns eventually. For example, tal.li.ta
‘run’, palp.ta ‘step on’, ppa.lu.ta ‘fast’ are thought to have originated from the noun tali/pal
‘legs/ feet’ and it has developed into the symbolic word ppal.li.ppal.li.
In the next chapter, I will provide actual analysis of symbolic words that correspond between the indigenous Korean and Japanese languages. These symbolic words are neither Sino-Korean nor Sino-Japanese.
35
5. An Etymological Comparison of
Symbolic Words in Korean and Japanese
In the previous chapter, I introduced an important theoretical framework that is necessary to understand the actual analysis in this chapter. In extracting the proto-type of Korean words, I apply the method of internal reconstruction found in the etymological dictionary of So (2003)
22. The historical documents presented in the dictionary will not be shown one by one in this chapter, but they are referenced in So (2003, pp. 9-11). This dictionary is the largest volume23of indigenous Korean etymology among published Korean etymological dictionaries in Korea. In this chapter, Korean words are presented first as basic words in order to compare the Japanese words as object words in the potential word-family24 tables below. I base the potential word-family tables mainly on the information provided in the etymological dictionary of So (2003). Another reason for presenting Korean words first is that I have better understanding in Korean than in Japanese since I am a native Korean speaker. By analyzing Korean words first, I am able to identify and analyze their Japanese counterparts better.
In the previous chapter, I explained that the ancient Korean nouns have a one-closed syllable.
In this chapter, I will reconstruct all of the proto-type of Korean nouns as one-closed syllables that end with a t consonant, which is a reconstructed sound of k, p, t, l, m, n, ŋ in a closed syllable. I will follow the reconstruction hypothetically in this chapter because, at present, there is no better idea in Korean Linguistics. So (2003, pp. 48-49) explains the reason as follows:
According to the development of culture and civilization, the number of Korean words that were one-closed syllables in ancient times, has increased and changed to open-syllable words. The terminal sounds in a word changed to sounds that are able to be pronounced easily. The Korean vocabulary needed suffixes to avoid homonyms
22 -b m (1926 ~ 2009) was a linguist born in Korea, specializing in the etymology of the Korean language. He was a professor at Kyung Hee University in Korea. He was also a folklorist, former president of the association of Korean etymology, and head of the Altaic research centre at Kyung Hee University.
23 About 1500 words
24 A word-family means a group of words that developed from the same original meaning.( ,1993, p. 153)
